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Microsoft 365 - What should I expect when I am no longer a Faculty, Staff, or Student?

Depending upon your continuing affiliation with the university, you may lose access to Microsoft 365 service and or applications. Please continue reading for more information.

Faculty/Staff/Retirees without IT Services/Other Employee Types (no continuing university affiliation)

If you are a faculty or staff member leaving the university with no remaining affiliation, you will lose access to your Microsoft 365 email account based on our deactivation cycle. You will be notified via your UW Madison Microsoft 365 email account when that is about to occur. If you have any questions about your status with the university, please contact your HR department.

Important: Be sure you have backed up any data you have in these applications (e.g., OneDrive for Business) prior to this date. You should also set an auto-response (Out of Office) on your UW Madison email account to begin notifying contacts of your updated contact information.

Note: There may be a time where an individual is both an Alumni and Faculty/Staff member. During this period, the individual will always receive the licenses that grants them more service access - in this case, they would be able to access all the apps/services under the "Faculty/Staff/Student" column.

Faculty/Staff (continuing with retiree with IT services/emeritus status)

If you are a faculty or staff member who is leaving the university and retaining an official appointment as a Retiree (with IT services) or Emeritus staff, you will retain access to your Microsoft 365 email and calendar account only. If you have any questions about your official Retiree or Emeritus status, please contact your department HR office or OHR.

On the day your appointment with UW Madison changes (per your HR office), your license will change to an Alumni/Emeriti license (email/calendar only) and you will lose access to the applications that are only available through a Faculty/Staff/Student license. Please be sure you have backed up any data you have in these applications (e.g., OneDrive for Business) prior to this date.

Privileges for UW-Madison Retirees and Emeriti Brochure

Note: There may be a time when an individual is both an Alumni and Faculty/Staff member. During this period, the individual will always receive the licenses that grant them more service access - in this case, they would be able to access all the apps/services under the "Faculty/Staff/Student" column.

Important for HR Departments:

  • Retirees - University IT privileges are not automatically granted to retirees. HR departments must request access for retirees via retiredID@ohr.wisc.edu (if not done on certificate). Include the employee’s full name, empl ID and retirement date. Please see the Leaving the University of Wisconsin-Madison checklist for more information.
  • Emeritus - When a staff member is granted emeritus status, they will now automatically be eligible for IT services. If you have any questions about the Emeritus staff process, please contact OHR.

Former Students 

IMPORTANT: As part of the migration of UW–‍Madison email systems to Office 365 (now Microsoft 365/M365), the decision was made to allow students who leave the university (and have no other affiliation) to maintain access to their M365 email and Google Workspace accounts indefinitely. Due to the changing landscape of cloud application licensing and security, UW–‍Madison will no longer offer these services to students following their departure from the university. See former student eligibility project site for specific details.



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OwnerO365 S.GroupMicrosoft 365
Created2017-02-10 08:55 CDTUpdated2023-08-08 14:32 CDT
SitesCybersecurity Operations Center, DoIT Help Desk, Microsoft 365
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